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/lit/ - Literature

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21437317 No.21437317 [Reply] [Original]

i haven't read a good, scary horror book in ages. What's a good rec? The closest I've got is Dark Places by Gillian Flynn but I think I want something more paranormal and legitimately scary

>> No.21437328

Machen
Lovecraft

>> No.21437350
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21437350

I read this earlier this month.
A quick read. A mix between psychological horror and folk horror

>> No.21437360

>>21437350
i'll look into it. i think im looking for something a little more substantial though

>> No.21437365

>>21437328
>Lovecraft
i don't know if it's just because I hear about him all the time or what but I've always been turned off by Lovecraft. When it gets shoved down your throat and everyone talks up and down about it I just get sick of it, kinda like LOTR

>> No.21437387

>>21437365
I know what you mean. Ive thought about how I might actually like Metallica or Led Zepplin for example if I hadn't been basically force feed them since I was toddler.

>> No.21437399

Ghost Story by Peter Straub has a lot of paranormal spooks. I'm not that affected by horror generally but there were a couple scenes in it that really got me.

>> No.21437422

>>21437365
Lovecraft isn't usually "scary" in my opinion, but his work is still interesting.
Some of them, read by candle light alone with only the moon for company, will have you jumping at the bumps in the night.

>> No.21437441

>>21437422
>Some of them, read by candle light alone with only the moon for company, will have you jumping at the bumps in the night.
only book that ever did that for me was haunting of hill house.

>> No.21437450

>>21437399
isn't that the one about a bunch of old guys? I've been curious about this one and carrion comfort

>> No.21437533

>>21437365
Lovecraft’s writing is pretty meh and his stories are really not that great but the concepts are interesting to think about after you’ve finished reading. Just not great execution.

Stephen King’s Lovecraft rip-off stories “N” (novella) and Crouch End (short story) are frankly better to read than Lovecraft himself. Revival, while bloated, is also a nice Lovecraftian story by King and I felt that the end was well worth slogging through the book at times.

But Lovecraft was a racist autist while Stephen King has turned into a generic Drumpf liberal so Lovecraft has that going for him at least.

>>21437387
I never got into Metallica and never will but I somehow didn’t get fully introduced to Zeppelin until I was 19 and it was incredible.

>> No.21437591

>>21437317
The Wendigo, by Algernon Blackwood
The Willows, also by Algernon Blackwood
The Color Out of Space, by H.P Lovecraft
The Case of Charles Dexter Ward, by H.P Lovecraft
Far Below, by Robert Bourbor Johnson (read Pickman's Model by HPL first.
Genius Loci by Clark Ashton Smith.

Genius Loci, The Willows, and Far Below, can all be found in the anthology The Weird, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Lovecraft's Stories are easy to find.

An archive of Smith's work can be found here: http://www.eldritchdark.com/

Lovecraft's work can is on his memorial site. https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/fiction/

>> No.21437633

There's something about ghost stories that don't scare me in the way other horror antagonists do. I wonder why. Maybe my perception of them relies too much on iin-my-face audio & visuals instead of my imagination.

>> No.21437647

>>21437533
>well worth slogging through the book at times.
this was why i stopped reading King. Along with just growing out of him, his writing style can mercilessly drag and be brutally boring and almost overwritten

>> No.21437655

>>21437633
>ghost stories
do you mean ghost stories as in horror in general or as in literally stories where the ghost/specter is the antagonist?

>> No.21437668

>>21437591
Anything a bit more modern? It's going to sound stupid but I don't have the built up "history of horror" like I do with literary fiction. Figured it'd be best if I started again with something a little more modern and maybe then work backwards

>> No.21437670

>>21437668
Start with the undead Greeks

>> No.21437928

>>21437668
I'm less well versed in more recent authors, so forgive me if this is a bit vague.

I can personally recommend Laird Barron's work. Thomas Ligotti and Robert Bloch are also worth looking into. Once again, I'd recommend The Weird, as it has just over 100 years worth of of stories (mostly horror), all from different authors, and so it's a good way to find what you like.

On the pulpier side of things, there's Ramsey Campbell.

>> No.21437938

>>21437670
underrated post

>> No.21437952

>>21437928
>Ligotti
I liked the glamour, so this may be my best bet

>> No.21437963

>>21437317
No One Gets Out Alive

>> No.21437975

>>21437317
The exorcist is really good. Books of blood and red Dragon are also pretty scary

>> No.21438036

>>21437647
I generally like his meandering plodding style if the story, setting and/or characters are interesting. In some of the later books it can be a bit much though.

>> No.21438159

>>21437317
Finishing up Weaveworld now. Pretty good stuff